Reward of Merit

A silver medal with the inscription “Reward of Merit” bears an engraving of a laurel-crowned young woman seated next to a pile of books. On the back the medal reads: “Presented to the Female Orphan Asylum of Petersburg by M.R. Anderson 1814.” In the winter of 1811 the gentry women of Petersburg spearheaded a fundraising campaign to open a Female Orphan Asylum in their city. By March of 1812 they had met their financial goal with the help of more than 200, mostly female, subscribers. The asylum opened in a rented house on High Street in 1814, taking in about fifteen girls and providing them with food, housing, and an education. The asylum became a favored charitable project of the affluent women of Petersburg for the next several decades.